:00:11. > :00:15.On the eve of the Winter Olympics, This Week braves the slippery
:00:16. > :00:16.conditions, and takes you on a downhill political ride.
:00:17. > :00:18.On the eve of the Winter Olympics, This Week braves Tight security in
:00:19. > :00:21.Sochi, as fears of terror attacks heighten, but there are also
:00:22. > :00:26.heightened concerns about human rights. One of the world's most high
:00:27. > :00:28.profile gay sportsmen, former NBA basketball star, John Amaechi, says
:00:29. > :00:42.it's times to take a stand. Basketball may not be in the Winter
:00:43. > :00:46.Olympics, but it's up to every athlete to stand up for human
:00:47. > :00:50.dignity. A different kind of treacherous
:00:51. > :00:54.weather has been causing concern for the Prime Minister, back here in the
:00:55. > :01:05.UK. The Economist's Anne McElvoy takes to the slopes. It was raining,
:01:06. > :01:07.not snow sending an icy chill through the Prime Minister this week
:01:08. > :01:10.and that Prime Minister's Questions, there was not much warmth
:01:11. > :01:14.from his own lot either. There will be a lot of apres skiing
:01:15. > :01:17.going on in Sochi, but is alcohol consumption getting out of control?
:01:18. > :01:30.Star of stage and screen, Brian Cox, will be raising a glass. It is
:01:31. > :01:32.parking outside. Welcome to a winter warmer.
:01:33. > :01:44.Tighten your bindings, strap those skis on and join me on the piste.
:01:45. > :01:51.Evenin' all. Welcome to This Week, a week in which we realised union
:01:52. > :01:55.leaders are not what they were. Time was when the industrial vanguard of
:01:56. > :01:58.the proletariat limbered up for a strike by taking a few days' break
:01:59. > :02:01.in some Soviet seaside paradise on the Black Sea, courtesy of the
:02:02. > :02:04.Kremlin, before gathering round a flaming brazier, to further the
:02:05. > :02:10.revolutionary struggle by shouting "scab" at unsuspecting passers-by.
:02:11. > :02:13.Now it's a luxury Caribbean cruise, courtesy of the Cunard, followed by
:02:14. > :02:21.a coconut cocktail on Copacabana beach. Yes, as London braced itself
:02:22. > :02:24.for a Tube strike, union sexy beast Bob Crow was pictured exercising
:02:25. > :02:27.every British man's right to don inappropriate shorts, lie on a sun
:02:28. > :02:35.lounger looking like a beached whale and turn a delicate shade of lobster
:02:36. > :02:38.pink. And why not? Nothing's too good for the workers, especially
:02:39. > :02:44.those who've cultivated a clever mix of Das Capital, Only Fools Horses
:02:45. > :02:47.and the Sopranos. Speaking of those who cause untold misery to millions,
:02:48. > :02:52.I'm joined on the sofa tonight by two men who are living proof that
:02:53. > :02:58.power is not always an aphrodisiac. Honest. Think of them as the Liz
:02:59. > :03:02.Hurley and Wendi Deng of late night political chat. I speak, of course,
:03:03. > :03:14.of #manontheleft Alan "AJ" Johnson and #sadmanonatrain Michael "Choo
:03:15. > :03:21.Choo" Portillo. Michael, your moment. On the day
:03:22. > :03:26.that a police man was sentenced to a in jail for lying in the case of
:03:27. > :03:30.Andrew Mitchell, I looked at a video of three policemen stopping a
:03:31. > :03:34.motorist in a rather unconventional way. They went up to his car and
:03:35. > :03:38.beat on his windscreen with a truncheon, jumped on his bonnet,
:03:39. > :03:43.dragged him out. He turned out to be 74 years old and a stroke victim.
:03:44. > :03:47.You might think they would be disciplined for this but an internal
:03:48. > :03:54.enquiry found there was no misconduct. I kid you not. No
:03:55. > :03:57.misconduct. One of the policemen, who beat his windscreen 15 times
:03:58. > :04:01.with a truncheon without breaking it, was then laughed at by his
:04:02. > :04:09.colleagues, because this video went viral. And he then left the police
:04:10. > :04:13.force and has today been given over ?400,000 in compensation for lost
:04:14. > :04:19.earnings and pensions. It does beggar belief. What is going on in
:04:20. > :04:21.this country? We are wasting masses of public money and cannot make
:04:22. > :04:27.police accountable for their actions. And if you lose a limb in
:04:28. > :04:36.Afghanistan you would get a fraction of that. Mine is Labour Party reform
:04:37. > :04:40.many people, is esoteric political party rules. For me, it is an
:04:41. > :04:45.important step forward on modernisation. I think Ed Miliband
:04:46. > :04:52.showed to risk it courage and determination. Lord Collins of
:04:53. > :04:58.Highbury did all of the spade work. He is an old union man. One day it
:04:59. > :05:06.will be Lord Johnson of Notting Hill. That would be the end of the
:05:07. > :05:13.House of Lords, I think. How will the Labour Party be funded after
:05:14. > :05:17.2020? We are taking a risk, but the principle has to come before the
:05:18. > :05:22.risk, before the finance. It was crazy that people were not making a
:05:23. > :05:25.conscious decision to sign up for the purple party, and it was crazy
:05:26. > :05:29.that we had a system which was not one member, one vote, but one
:05:30. > :05:37.member, multiple votes, no member, one vote, clearing that up is the
:05:38. > :05:43.big thing. Actually, we were going to have 20% of the nominations and
:05:44. > :05:46.it came down to 50%, really because Mr Portillo, if I am not wrong,
:05:47. > :05:50.could have stood for the leadership if the Conservative Party had not
:05:51. > :05:56.restricted it to two. We wanted to make sure there was more of a choice
:05:57. > :06:00.for members to choose from. We will blame him. I was lucky to be
:06:01. > :06:03.squeezed out. Now, you might think an invitation
:06:04. > :06:08.to an Olympic opening ceremony would be a prized perk of the job. But for
:06:09. > :06:11.Prime Ministers and Presidents now is the Winter Games of our
:06:12. > :06:14.discontent, and the Russian town of Sochi a foreign junket to avoid,
:06:15. > :06:18.amid protests at Russia's human rights record, especially when it
:06:19. > :06:22.comes to gay people. So what is the best strategy for politicians and
:06:23. > :06:27.athletes with an uneasy conscience. Boycott, go and say nothing, or go
:06:28. > :06:32.and speak out? We turned to psychologist and former NBA
:06:33. > :06:53.basketball star, John Amaechi. This is his take of the week.
:06:54. > :06:59.As a former basketball player, I know that practice and competition
:07:00. > :07:03.are only one small part of the job of an athlete. As much as sport is
:07:04. > :07:11.about the quest for gold, it is intrinsically political. So I
:07:12. > :07:15.believe it is the responsibility of everybody attending the Games in
:07:16. > :07:18.Sochi to at least recognise the political reality. The truth is that
:07:19. > :07:22.these Games are happening on the backs of the abuse of migrant
:07:23. > :07:26.workers and environmentalists, journalists. The truth is that these
:07:27. > :07:37.Games are happening on the backs of the torture of young gay boys and
:07:38. > :07:39.girls. Make no mistake, when powerful people like athletes and
:07:40. > :07:43.their federations choose to say nothing in the face of injustice,
:07:44. > :07:47.they become tainted by that decision, and no amount of gold hung
:07:48. > :07:55.around their neck and take away the shame of that sting. John Carlos
:07:56. > :07:59.famously gave the Black Power salute at the Olympics. They showed us that
:08:00. > :08:08.it is not enough to simply win. You have to get on the podium and use it
:08:09. > :08:12.as a soapbox. My message for those at the Sochi Games is this. Maybe
:08:13. > :08:19.you wish that sport was not political. Maybe you think they are
:08:20. > :08:23.not. But understand, people being tortured and abused in Russia will
:08:24. > :08:26.not know by telepathy that you are poor their treatment, and the world
:08:27. > :08:30.will not recognise that you stand for anything more than yourself
:08:31. > :08:32.unless you say or do something to make it plain at a time when the
:08:33. > :08:50.entire world is watching. And John joins us in our own little
:08:51. > :08:56.basketball court. Welcome to the programme. Thank you. Can I
:08:57. > :09:01.clarify, you think that rather than boycotting the Games, we should go
:09:02. > :09:05.but speak out while we are there? Yes. Stephen Fry's call for a Boy
:09:06. > :09:11.Scout is a perfectly principled approach, and not just based on
:09:12. > :09:17.Western ideology being fixed on another country. It is not that. It
:09:18. > :09:21.is the Olympics themselves. Their principles speak of no
:09:22. > :09:24.discrimination on any grounds. Their own charter says sport should be
:09:25. > :09:27.used for the furtherance of human dignity. There is nothing further
:09:28. > :09:33.from that than what is happening now. It is principled. But I spoke
:09:34. > :09:38.to activists, journalists, who said, come and show the world what is
:09:39. > :09:42.happening. What do you make of that? It was one of the best films we have
:09:43. > :09:46.ever had on the programme because you said what you thought and it was
:09:47. > :09:50.a very clear position. I think you are right. I think it is fortunate
:09:51. > :09:53.there has not been a boycott. I think the Russian regime believes
:09:54. > :09:58.this is a good opportunity to grandstand. I dare say flat Amir
:09:59. > :10:02.Putin will go down well with his own people but I think the opportunity
:10:03. > :10:08.has been seized by others outside to draw attention to human rights
:10:09. > :10:12.abuses. Let it be said that homosexuality is not illegal in
:10:13. > :10:19.Russia, as it was in the UK until recently. It is just dangerous. Yes.
:10:20. > :10:22.And there are many other abuses, which you mentioned in your film,
:10:23. > :10:26.for example journalists who have been murdered and so one. But I
:10:27. > :10:32.think what will come out of this is that what -- that the world will
:10:33. > :10:36.focus on some of these disagreeable aspects of Russia and in that sense
:10:37. > :10:40.it will come out quite well. But I think you make a very interesting
:10:41. > :10:43.point that people have to use the opportunity to speak up. You are so
:10:44. > :10:49.clear in what you are saying that really anybody who does not do that
:10:50. > :10:53.is tainted. They share a certain blame in this, unless they are
:10:54. > :10:59.willing to speak out. But I think it will work out fine. But many
:11:00. > :11:03.athletes, they have trained for years, they are focused on trying to
:11:04. > :11:07.win a medal, they may not be that interested in politics, or even the
:11:08. > :11:14.important issues that John is interested in. It is a big ask. One
:11:15. > :11:19.of our UK athletes, a lesbian, has said she will not speak out, she is
:11:20. > :11:24.concentrating on the sport. She will not speak out at this time. But I
:11:25. > :11:27.think John is right, this is a huge opportunity and the one time you can
:11:28. > :11:33.put Putin and the Russians under pressure. I have heard some Russian
:11:34. > :11:38.activists saying, be careful this does not backfire and strengthen his
:11:39. > :11:41.position. It must be difficult to be gay or lesbian in Russia. The law
:11:42. > :11:48.introduced there is rather like section 28 in the Thatcher era. 40
:11:49. > :11:53.of our Commonwealth countries, homosexuality is illegal. 12 states
:11:54. > :11:59.in the US. And this is all stuff that Putin will use. What do you say
:12:00. > :12:06.to athletes who say, I agree but I do not want to get involved. I am
:12:07. > :12:12.only going there to ski, to skate? When powerful people, usually
:12:13. > :12:16.powerful men, use their words to damage, to stereotype, when they use
:12:17. > :12:21.their words as poison, it is the responsibility of people that we
:12:22. > :12:23.call heroes, we call our sportspeople heroes, it is the
:12:24. > :12:29.responsibility of those people to use their words as antidotes. I
:12:30. > :12:33.played basketball for a long time in one day I realised I put a ball in a
:12:34. > :12:36.hole for a living. What is the point of having that power and influence
:12:37. > :12:47.and using it for your own self aggrandising and? In Western
:12:48. > :12:51.democracies, there has been a revolution in attitudes to gay
:12:52. > :12:55.people. There have been huge changes in progress. In some sports. I was
:12:56. > :13:01.going to say not necessarily in sport. Sport is still a problem. It
:13:02. > :13:07.is a problem because it is run by dinosaurs. It is run by people who
:13:08. > :13:12.refuse to evolve. There will come a point where extension will happen,
:13:13. > :13:15.but at the moment they are still there, still screaming and wishing
:13:16. > :13:21.the status quo would remain the same. I thought football players who
:13:22. > :13:27.would not come out were not afraid of the people who ran the sport but
:13:28. > :13:31.those who support it. If I was a fan of sport, I would be insulted that
:13:32. > :13:34.every time there is an incident, a question about homophobia or
:13:35. > :13:38.anything, the blame is always laid on their shoulders. It is always in
:13:39. > :13:42.the rhetoric of, it is those blue-collar people, it is their
:13:43. > :13:46.fault. It is not. There are well educated people in positions of
:13:47. > :13:50.power who are not comfortable with women in the boardroom, black people
:13:51. > :13:55.coaching in football, and certainly not comfortable with gay people
:13:56. > :14:02.anywhere. Football supporters want to see good players. Exactly. I
:14:03. > :14:06.think what underlines your position on the Olympics is a sort of
:14:07. > :14:11.symmetry. One has to understand that Russia winning the opportunity to
:14:12. > :14:13.stage the Games is a massive political act. It is an opportunity
:14:14. > :14:19.to sanitise the impression around the world. Unless the opportunity is
:14:20. > :14:25.taken by others to point out what the regime is really like, you have
:14:26. > :14:28.an asymmetrical situation. It is not as though an athlete, commentator or
:14:29. > :14:35.politician from outside Russia are raising this issue is being unfair,
:14:36. > :14:41.not playing by the rules. It is a huge political act to stage the
:14:42. > :14:44.Olympics. When Russia got the Games, when it was announced that Sochi was
:14:45. > :14:48.to be the scene of the Winter Olympics, Vladimir Putin said,
:14:49. > :14:53.Russia is back for the rest of the world to see. The problem is, even
:14:54. > :14:59.with protest, it is unlikely to change things. I suspect, I have not
:15:00. > :15:08.seen the polling, but I suspect that Mr Putin's government attitude to
:15:09. > :15:11.gaze is probably popular. That is my point not strengthening his
:15:12. > :15:16.position. But for athletes to do it, to use that opportunity is very
:15:17. > :15:21.important. It goes along with a number of other things happening in
:15:22. > :15:25.the country and Putin's rhetoric has already stepped back from his
:15:26. > :15:30.disastrous, leave the kids alone, whatever he said. There is a
:15:31. > :15:38.precedent which was the persecution of Jews in the Soviet Union. Of
:15:39. > :15:42.course, you run the risk, that the persecution would be increased. In
:15:43. > :15:50.the fullness of time, the Russian position became untenable, even in
:15:51. > :15:56.the Soviet era. So I think we are working in the right direction. What
:15:57. > :15:59.would you like the athletes to do? Use the windows they have. Press
:16:00. > :16:02.conferences are open season. If they are asked a question, they can
:16:03. > :16:07.answer a question about these atrocities. Use those moments. Use
:16:08. > :16:12.all the ways... All the ways all these athletes who talk to us about
:16:13. > :16:16.- I'm focussing on Gold. All the way they spend time with their sponsors.
:16:17. > :16:19.The way they tweet. The way they do all these things already for
:16:20. > :16:24.financial or commercial gain. Use those ways for something that isn't
:16:25. > :16:28.just about your pocket. Should the politicians have gone. By in large
:16:29. > :16:32.the politicians seem to be boycotting these Games should they
:16:33. > :16:36.have gone and said some things too? If you send a delegation, then the
:16:37. > :16:39.delegation can speak. It does say something when the head of a
:16:40. > :16:43.country, who normally would take that seat, right at the front, says
:16:44. > :16:49.no. I actually think that David Cameron should have said, rather
:16:50. > :16:54.than passing it off as I'm too busy, I'm sending something else. Should
:16:55. > :17:00.have said what President Obama I'm not going I'm sending these as my
:17:01. > :17:04.delegates to represent my country to show what eve eve believe. Get a
:17:05. > :17:13.sense there has been a semi return to the Soviet era in Russia?
:17:14. > :17:18.Absolutely. He's not a great dictator the way the Soviets were.
:17:19. > :17:24.He has a grip on that country he uses the oil and gas revenues to
:17:25. > :17:28.keep that grip? Yes. It would be surprising if the Olympics weren't a
:17:29. > :17:35.success in the sense the London Olympics Werritty a success. Well
:17:36. > :17:41.run. The country feels good about it itself. Thought the best of Britain
:17:42. > :17:44.- What I think we can do is make sure that the rest of the world has
:17:45. > :17:51.a clear understanding of what Putin's Russia is. I think, in the
:17:52. > :17:55.example I gave out, I think actually global opinion does have some
:17:56. > :17:59.impact. Does matter. We will have to leave it there. It's grim for gays
:18:00. > :18:10.in Russia at the moment. . Not getting better either. No. John
:18:11. > :18:14.thank you. Now, it's late in the day, so late, and such a disaster
:18:15. > :18:20.we're half expecting Prince Charles to turn up on the back of a tractor.
:18:21. > :18:24.But in the meantime grin and bear it because waiting in the wings, actor
:18:25. > :18:27.Brian Cox is here fresh from his performance tonight in The Weir, in
:18:28. > :18:30.London's West End and ready to talk about our cultural relationship with
:18:31. > :18:33.alcohol. Remember, if you are suffering from too much This Week
:18:34. > :18:36.flooding in your living room, you can contact us on the premium rate
:18:37. > :18:41.Twitter, the premium rate Fleecebook and the premium rate Interweb. We
:18:42. > :18:44.will make money out of your misery. Drowning not waving, the Government
:18:45. > :18:47.is struggling to keep its head above the flood waters and today announced
:18:48. > :18:50.an extra ?30 million towards repairs and maintenance on top of the ?100
:18:51. > :18:54.million the PM announced yesterday, which appears more to do with
:18:55. > :18:56.defending itself against the charge it's cut real terms spending on
:18:57. > :19:03.flood defences, than defending against the actual flood water. And,
:19:04. > :19:07.like the Little Dutch Boy putting his finger in the dyke, the Big
:19:08. > :19:11.Bradford Boy, Eric Pickles, has now been deployed. The Communities
:19:12. > :19:15.Secretary is en route to the Devon coast in a last ditch attempt to
:19:16. > :19:22.plug the gaping hole in the Dawlish sea wall. He knows what I'm going to
:19:23. > :19:26.say ay. If anyone can do it, he can. So with the political weather
:19:27. > :19:28.getting us down, what better than a Winter Olympic break with The
:19:29. > :19:43.Economist's Anne McElvoy. Here's her roundup of the week.
:19:44. > :19:50.Greetings from Sochi, where the welcome is as warm as a Siberian
:19:51. > :19:55.weren't. It takes me back to my days in Moscow at the old East Germany
:19:56. > :20:13.that was a going concern when this outfit was still in vogui. -- vogue.
:20:14. > :20:16.Back home it's storm squalls and not snow causing chaos and giving the
:20:17. > :20:23.Government an icy chill from some unexpected quarters. Has the
:20:24. > :20:27.Environment Agency done enough, sir? You might very well think so. I
:20:28. > :20:31.couldn't possibly comment. Prince Charles, waded into politics
:20:32. > :20:34.suggesting that more should have been done to help those in
:20:35. > :20:39.flood-drenched areas, being charged with a flood helpline probably
:20:40. > :20:44.didn't help. Ed Miliband reached out to those drenched in true blue
:20:45. > :20:46.constituencies. Many affected feel the Government's response has been
:20:47. > :20:51.slow and more could have been done sooner. Will the Prime Minister tell
:20:52. > :20:56.the House what actually is now being taken to ensure areas affected have
:20:57. > :21:00.all the necessary support they need? I don't accept the Government has
:21:01. > :21:07.been slow. We have been having Cobra meeting on a daily basis. We have
:21:08. > :21:10.taken action right across the board. Round one to Ed Miliband then. He
:21:11. > :21:14.was cruising nicely for a bronze, could he go for gold? The Prime
:21:15. > :21:18.Minister though wanted to talk about other things, the travel chaos in
:21:19. > :21:24.London due to the Tube strike. The man in the middle of the gridlock
:21:25. > :21:29.was his rival, Boris Johnson. He was meeting his match in the RMT's chief
:21:30. > :21:34.charmer, Bob Crow. I'm sorry, Bob, there is a table to be sat round by
:21:35. > :21:38.you and your team. There they are. They can't do it while you put a gun
:21:39. > :21:42.to our head. You are putting a gun to the head of Londoners. You served
:21:43. > :21:46.the notice on our unions to say the jobs were going. If you didn't serve
:21:47. > :21:52.the notice there wouldn't be a strike tonight. About more than just
:21:53. > :21:57.the woes of London commuters. Boris is talking about changing strike
:21:58. > :22:02.laws. That is easier said than done. Still, opening up that subject could
:22:03. > :22:06.discomfort Labour, still reeling from revelations of union
:22:07. > :22:10.malpractice in the Falkirk selection battle. Ed Miliband, with his
:22:11. > :22:26.reputation as a bit of a union lackey.
:22:27. > :22:30.Every Olympic competitor knows having the right people on the team
:22:31. > :22:35.is the secret of success. Someone always loses out. Sally Morgan, a
:22:36. > :22:39.Labour peer, is out of her role of Ofsted, the school's watchdog. She
:22:40. > :22:44.claims she is the latest non-Conservative figure to be culled
:22:45. > :22:50.from a senior kwaun goal. After you, Claude. I think it's absolutely a
:22:51. > :22:53.pattern. I think it's extremely worrying. One of the really
:22:54. > :22:57.important things about public appointments is that they are made
:22:58. > :23:04.on the basis of merit. Michael Goef said he wanted a fresh face, a nice
:23:05. > :23:08.Tory face to appease the Tory backbenchers. He had a plan to state
:23:09. > :23:13.schools. Make them more like Hogwarts. My ambition is simple.
:23:14. > :23:17.When you advice ate school in England, standards are so high all
:23:18. > :23:25.round that you simply cannot tell whether it is a state school or an
:23:26. > :23:30.independent fee paying school. In fairness, Baroness Morgan agrees
:23:31. > :23:34.with most of Mr Gove's school reforms there is a drive from the
:23:35. > :23:38.Conservatives to dilute the number of senior Labour people at the top
:23:39. > :23:43.of kwaun goals. There are quite a lot of them. It was an easy target
:23:44. > :23:48.for Harriet Harman. We don't have enough women in senior positions and
:23:49. > :23:53.this is the common Dee nominator happening. What is the problem in
:23:54. > :24:02.your Government with women. It's like raining men in the Tory party.
:24:03. > :24:13.Labour was out to get a medal for women. On PMQs in Wednesday when
:24:14. > :24:20.David Cameron's frontbench was full of chaps. A picture tells a thousand
:24:21. > :24:23.words. Look at the all male frontbench before us. He says he
:24:24. > :24:29.wants to represent the whole country. Mr Speaker, I guess they
:24:30. > :24:33.didn't let women into the Bullingdon Club either. We are making progress.
:24:34. > :24:37.We will make more progress. Let me make this point. This party is proud
:24:38. > :24:45.of the fact we had a woman Prime Minister. Yes. That got loud cheers
:24:46. > :24:49.from the Education Secretary, a spiritual son of the great she
:24:50. > :24:53.Champion. The speaker thought a dose of discipline was in order. You
:24:54. > :25:02.really are a very overexcitable individual! You need to write out
:25:03. > :25:07.1,000 times, "I will behave myself at Prime Minister's Questions." Oh,
:25:08. > :25:12.dear, he must have kept that joke on ice for quite some time. It's time
:25:13. > :25:28.for my final run. Seeing as Eddie the Eagle was sadly unavailable.
:25:29. > :25:32.At Westminster, as in Sochi, it's the taking part that counts. Winning
:25:33. > :25:46.is so much nicer. Anne McElvoy. I'm obliged to tell
:25:47. > :25:49.you, thanks to the BBC's Truth and Accuracy guidelines, she wasn't
:25:50. > :25:54.really in Sochi, but the Hemel Hempstead Snow Centre. If you hadn't
:25:55. > :26:01.worked that out, you don't know how small this programme's budget is.
:26:02. > :26:05.Miranda is with us. There are a small number of people affected,
:26:06. > :26:10.those affected have been affected for a long time. Life is miserable
:26:11. > :26:15.for them. People aren't dying. Even so, does this kind of thing have
:26:16. > :26:19.political dangers for the Government? Up to a point. I think
:26:20. > :26:22.once the floodwaters recede, whenever they do, then probably the
:26:23. > :26:27.political dangers will recede too. I think it has looked, it has looked
:26:28. > :26:32.sluggish, it has looked uncertain. I don't think the Government is
:26:33. > :26:37.hitting the right tone now. I heard David Cameron today boasting about
:26:38. > :26:42.all the things that Cobra could do. What does Cobra mean to the average
:26:43. > :26:50.voter. Cobra is a committee. To say that a committee is doing things is,
:26:51. > :26:55.again... It's the wrong tonality isn't it? Prince Charles played a
:26:56. > :27:00.blinder this week. He turned up in his wellies. Spoke to farmers in
:27:01. > :27:05.farmers language about farmerer problems. He offered ?50,000 out of
:27:06. > :27:10.the Duchy to help them at a time when... By the way Chris Smith is in
:27:11. > :27:17.the firing lined as well. Lord Smith said out of his budget he doesn't
:27:18. > :27:22.have enough to do anything. It has been a week when the politicians
:27:23. > :27:26.have been circling the Government seem to have forgotten their
:27:27. > :27:29.politics. If you are sitting in the Somerset Levels at the moment your
:27:30. > :27:36.house is still soaking, you see very little coming to help you, London
:27:37. > :27:39.and Cobra and these politicians and the Environment Agency seem a long
:27:40. > :27:44.way away. Nothing. People are sensible enough. We had flooding in
:27:45. > :27:50.Hull and East Riding in 2007. It's one of Gordon's finest moments.
:27:51. > :27:54.David Cameron got in trouble for going away when his own constituency
:27:55. > :27:58.was flooded. Gordon was straight there. People know this is something
:27:59. > :28:03.politicians can't snap their fingers and resolve. It is all about the
:28:04. > :28:08.tone and the approach, which is why Prince Charles got it so right.
:28:09. > :28:11.David Cameron going there, even without his wellies... Paterson
:28:12. > :28:16.didn't have his wellies. These things matter. That people
:28:17. > :28:21.understand... Think that you empathise with their plight. That is
:28:22. > :28:24.really important. Not the Somerset Levels themselves, this area, this
:28:25. > :28:31.is Lib Dem country, isn't it? Absolutely. What are they saying is
:28:32. > :28:34.it? The region is important for the Lib Dems. Their power base. They
:28:35. > :28:38.have a lot of MPs there. The MPs were reshuffled out of the
:28:39. > :28:42.Government. It has allowed them, Mr Browne, and his neighbour, David
:28:43. > :28:45.Heath, who is standing down. It's actually allowed them to be the
:28:46. > :28:48.voice of their constituents much more than if they had still been in
:28:49. > :28:52.the Government. Yeah, it's really important. That idea of what's
:28:53. > :28:57.London doing for us? It's not great if your people are in the Government
:28:58. > :29:04.at the moment, but you know I saw one Conservative MP on Twitter
:29:05. > :29:09.saying, "we must hold back the sea" that's no good. Modern-day commute.
:29:10. > :29:11.It seems as if the experts in the Environment Agency and the
:29:12. > :29:17.Government don't know what to do about this at all. Is a clear
:29:18. > :29:22.division. Between the so-called experts and the Environment Agency
:29:23. > :29:27.and London and Government advisers. What the experts on the ground have
:29:28. > :29:30.been saying, the local drainage boards, the Farmers' Union down
:29:31. > :29:36.there, they wanted dredging they have been denied it? I'm not an
:29:37. > :29:40.expert on this. It seems to me these areas are only flood-free, in as
:29:41. > :29:44.much as they are, because of fairly recent human interventions. These
:29:45. > :29:50.are natural floodplains. Human intervention has made them Hebb
:29:51. > :29:53.table and farmable. If you stop the human intervention, which was
:29:54. > :29:57.dredging, big surprise, the waters come back. I really can't
:29:58. > :30:02.understand... You know, I can't think there is much argument about
:30:03. > :30:10.that really. If we move on to the London Tube strike. Borisv Bob, was
:30:11. > :30:14.the strike right or wrong? Right. I would have he voted for it. They are
:30:15. > :30:22.cutting 17% of staffed and closing every single ticket office in
:30:23. > :30:25.London. It was done by Edict not through negotiation. When Ken
:30:26. > :30:30.Livingstone was proposing reform to the ticket offices, said no ticket
:30:31. > :30:35.office will close. I mean, this is bad news for Boris. Terrible for the
:30:36. > :30:41.travelling public as well. But if I was a Tube worker, I'd have voted to
:30:42. > :30:45.strike. Compulsory redundancies, more people have voted for
:30:46. > :30:49.redundancy than the number of jobs that will go. 3% of travellers use
:30:50. > :30:54.the ticket offices. They are barely largely unused. That amounts to
:30:55. > :30:58.100,000 people. People have been deployed behind the glass onto the
:30:59. > :31:03.platforms and onto the forecourses to help people get through? So they
:31:04. > :31:06.say. This looks very dodgy to me. If there has been no discussion by the
:31:07. > :31:11.way you can't get to a position where there is a compromise here. It
:31:12. > :31:15.looks dodgy to me they will cut 17% of the staff. That is a fact. I saw
:31:16. > :31:20.Matthew Hancock on Question Time they are only closing some of the
:31:21. > :31:23.ticket offices. They are closing all 240 of them. If the idea was to
:31:24. > :31:27.bring the staff from behind the glass and they are helping in the
:31:28. > :31:32.station concourse, OK. They can't do both. They can't cut the staff by
:31:33. > :31:37.17%, close the ticket offices, where will they bring the staff to help
:31:38. > :31:42.the passengers? It strikes me as something that was resolvable in
:31:43. > :31:44.discussion and negotiation. For some reason it didn't take place. Say
:31:45. > :31:55.you? I think it was resolvable. I think
:31:56. > :31:58.the direction this is moving is more or less inevitable. All industries
:31:59. > :32:04.have to be streamlined by mechanisation, by reduction in
:32:05. > :32:08.face-to-face contact through glass. I hope that many of the people from
:32:09. > :32:13.behind the glass will be redeployed to places where they can deal with
:32:14. > :32:17.passengers. One of the reasons Boris is on the hook is that he made a
:32:18. > :32:21.clear statement that there would be no closure of ticket offices. He
:32:22. > :32:30.says the technology has changed since then. It was a typical
:32:31. > :32:36.populist statement to get elected. Is that what politicians do? You
:32:37. > :32:39.should be careful what populist statements you make because they
:32:40. > :32:46.come back to haunt you. It is unfortunate, because to deflect
:32:47. > :32:49.attention from the failure, the lack of attempt to negotiate a
:32:50. > :32:56.compromise, there is all this talk about introducing new laws to
:32:57. > :33:00.restrict the right to strike, and whether you call transport and
:33:01. > :33:04.essential service. This is quite an extreme reaction, it seems to me, to
:33:05. > :33:11.something which is essentially an issue which should be resolved
:33:12. > :33:16.around the negotiating table. Here is my suggestion for David Cameron.
:33:17. > :33:20.He is going to negotiate a better European deal and put it to a
:33:21. > :33:24.referendum and ask for a yes vote. Let's make everyone who does not
:33:25. > :33:40.vote a no vote. Let's have the same rules. Now, let me ask you this.
:33:41. > :33:46.This coalition is now a loveless marriage. There is constant
:33:47. > :33:52.fighting, throwing the toys out of the pram. Much of it is just
:33:53. > :33:55.manufactured. Never mind Michael Gove and David Laws. Danny
:33:56. > :33:59.Alexander. There is no prospect of the Tories trying to cut the top
:34:00. > :34:03.rate of tax to 40% this side of the election. They know they can't do
:34:04. > :34:09.it, but Danny Alexander says, they will do it over my dead body.
:34:10. > :34:13.Nonsense. When I heard that, I did not know if it was a dare. There are
:34:14. > :34:20.probably Tory backbenchers who would like to respond to that. Because
:34:21. > :34:24.Labour came out with Ed Balls in an upfront way saying, this is our
:34:25. > :34:29.intention on the top rate of tax, to go back to 50p, it brought the whole
:34:30. > :34:35.subject back into play. The thing about that tax rate is that it
:34:36. > :34:41.symbolises a lot about a party's values and direction. But the point
:34:42. > :34:44.is, Miranda, are we going to have 16 months of artificial disputes, just
:34:45. > :34:52.so the Lib Dems can put some distance from the Tories? I hate to
:34:53. > :34:55.say it, but I fear so. You say it is a loveless marriage, but it is not
:34:56. > :35:02.preventing the coalition from functioning. The coalition is
:35:03. > :35:05.still... It is still there. More than that, having terrific success
:35:06. > :35:10.with its economic policy. The comparison between British and
:35:11. > :35:14.European growth gets better every day. Some of these differences are
:35:15. > :35:21.important for working out who you want to vote for you next time.
:35:22. > :35:25.Now, you can make a complete fool of yourself when you drink too much. I
:35:26. > :35:28.only agreed to host This Week after a boozy lunch with former DG Greg
:35:29. > :35:32.Dyke. Alan only agreed to become Shadow Chancellor after one sherry
:35:33. > :35:35.too many with Labour lush Ed Miliband. And Michael only agreed to
:35:36. > :35:39.install a bank of telephone lines and then not challenge John Major to
:35:40. > :35:44.prove he couldn't organise a kiss up in a brewery. And that's why we've
:35:45. > :35:47.decided drink plays a role in all our decisions and put our cultural
:35:48. > :36:12.relationship with alcohol in this week's Spotlight. Bottoms up.
:36:13. > :36:17.Supermarket owners gulped this week as the government announced a
:36:18. > :36:21.crackdown on cheap booze. But new licensing laws will affect just 1%
:36:22. > :36:26.of sales and you will still be up to get a can of lager for 50p. The
:36:27. > :36:32.coalition does not do minimum alcohol pricing laws. But if they
:36:33. > :36:39.did, they would probably be the worst minimum alcohol pricing laws
:36:40. > :36:44.in the world. But what is wrong with enjoying our booze? Who could blame
:36:45. > :36:48.England football fans for needing a stiff drink? The Prime Minister
:36:49. > :36:52.agrees and says pubs will be opened later during the World Cup this
:36:53. > :36:59.summer. So cheers, here is to our good health. But experts say we must
:37:00. > :37:07.drink less or cancer cases may rise by up to 75% by 2035. And today we
:37:08. > :37:10.see the dangers of drink. A teenager in Northern Ireland has died after
:37:11. > :37:17.taking part in a drinking game that is sweeping across social media. So,
:37:18. > :37:21.will we continue to drink no matter the cost? Is our relationship with
:37:22. > :37:26.alcohol too ingrained in our culture for it to be any other way? The
:37:27. > :37:34.trouble is, with this lot following me all died, they will work out how
:37:35. > :37:43.many I have had. -- following me all day. Welcome to the programme.
:37:44. > :37:49.Alcohol is quite central to our culture. It has been with us a long
:37:50. > :37:54.time. If you think about it, in England, you could not drink the
:37:55. > :37:59.water, you could only drink ale. In Scotland, you could drink the water
:38:00. > :38:03.because it was pure. But English water was always polluted. The way
:38:04. > :38:08.people got fluid was through ale. Therefore, for the English, that is
:38:09. > :38:21.why beer and English men go hand-in-hand. And the Scottish drink
:38:22. > :38:25.whiskey. You are starring in a successful play which is set in a
:38:26. > :38:29.pub and features a group of heavy drinkers. Has that been part of its
:38:30. > :38:33.success, because people can relate to it? Well, I think it is a
:38:34. > :38:42.setting, in the way that Nigel Farage uses his beer has a setting.
:38:43. > :38:47.It is a setting for this play. It is more than the alcohol. The alcohol
:38:48. > :38:51.is central to their lives, but it is also at night-time, so it is when
:38:52. > :38:57.can drink. The problem about alcoholism, the problem about what
:38:58. > :39:01.happened, I think modern alcoholism is a result very much of the
:39:02. > :39:05.Industrial Revolution. Really, before then, people lived in an
:39:06. > :39:11.agrarian culture. I did a programme on whiskey a couple of years ago.
:39:12. > :39:18.They drank whiskey on special occasions, so it was a celebrant and
:39:19. > :39:20.social drink. But after the Industrial Revolution, when people
:39:21. > :39:25.were coming from the Highlands, going to Paisley and places like
:39:26. > :39:32.that, and coming from Ireland, suddenly you had workers, and you
:39:33. > :39:36.had a lot of men who were not, it was the women working in my
:39:37. > :39:40.hometown, and the men were spare. Suddenly there were these pubs. And
:39:41. > :39:44.then there was this horrible thing because William Pitt the Younger put
:39:45. > :39:54.a huge tax on whiskey, which meant that the rotgut whiskey came in.
:39:55. > :40:00.That is when, really, the rot set in. Alcoholism in the 19th century
:40:01. > :40:07.went through the roof. This may be seeing it through rose tinted
:40:08. > :40:12.glasses, but the pub used to be a socialising place. It was also a
:40:13. > :40:18.place where the older man would maybe keep an eye on the younger
:40:19. > :40:22.ones, whereas today that has totally gone. There was a culture which came
:40:23. > :40:25.up because of what was happening and the Temperance thing that was going
:40:26. > :40:32.on, and the older people did look after the younger people. But it has
:40:33. > :40:39.all gone haywire. You must remember growing up where we did that the
:40:40. > :40:43.pubs used to shut at 9pm and you would see men falling down drunk
:40:44. > :40:47.because they would go straight to the pub and they would drink very
:40:48. > :40:53.quickly. On Friday night when they got the wages. So we thought that by
:40:54. > :40:57.extending the hours that would -- that would solve the problem. We
:40:58. > :41:03.have never solved it. Binge drinking. The high street on a
:41:04. > :41:09.Friday night, I have seen sites which are unbelievable. Just go to
:41:10. > :41:16.an English market town, which you might think is quite posh, and you
:41:17. > :41:20.see the same thing. Labour changed it, liberalising the laws. Many
:41:21. > :41:24.people said it is great and we will get the continental thing of having
:41:25. > :41:31.a drink after the theatre, or whatever. We did not take into
:41:32. > :41:36.account the culture, did we? There is no evidence that crime went up as
:41:37. > :41:40.a result either. Another important change is that when I was a kid in
:41:41. > :41:47.London, people did not drink at home, but they drank at the pub. You
:41:48. > :41:51.never saw blues in the house. -- you never saw alcohol in the house. And
:41:52. > :41:55.now, this preloading thing that youngsters do before they go out,
:41:56. > :42:06.they have got drunk before they go out because it is cheaper. Have you
:42:07. > :42:09.ever had a pint of beer? Certainly. In fact, when I make television
:42:10. > :42:17.series, I do travel programmes on railways, most gays end up with me
:42:18. > :42:22.having a drink. This is interesting. I would never be allowed by the BBC
:42:23. > :42:27.to end each day I having a cigarette, but that is still
:42:28. > :42:31.regarded as acceptable that I end up every day having a drink. Drink is
:42:32. > :42:37.still something we find amusing. We portray people falling down drunk.
:42:38. > :42:42.There has been no movement on the stigmatisation of alcohol, as there
:42:43. > :42:46.was on drunken driving or cigarettes. Can politicians do
:42:47. > :42:52.anything about this? I doubt it. It is cultural. Alan Johnson's point,
:42:53. > :42:57.in France, people drink at home. The wine was there and the same in
:42:58. > :43:03.Spain. They don't have the same problem. I think it is a lot to do
:43:04. > :43:08.with the cold, the weather. Plus, they eat when they drink. Drink and
:43:09. > :43:12.food go hand-in-hand. They have always been more sensible about it.
:43:13. > :43:17.We have always been a bit crazy and I don't think we have ever got it
:43:18. > :43:22.right. Before you go, you are in favour of Scottish independence.
:43:23. > :43:28.Have you got a vote? No, because I do not live in Scotland. But you
:43:29. > :43:33.would vote yes. How do you think it is going? It is getting there,
:43:34. > :43:38.slowly. There is work to do but it is getting there. It is a narrower
:43:39. > :43:44.margin than many think. I have been doing something today in Corby,
:43:45. > :43:47.funnily enough, interviewing that little Scotland area, and I was
:43:48. > :43:52.fascinated at the results which we will see one another programme on
:43:53. > :43:59.another day. We had to go. Your play is doing great.
:44:00. > :44:03.That's your lot for tonight, folks. We're giving Lou Lou's a wide berth
:44:04. > :44:07.tonight. It's Tory MP Aiden Burley's Nazi-themed leaving party. Will the
:44:08. > :44:10.man never learn? Instead, we're donning our brown wigs and red
:44:11. > :44:14.lipstick and heading over to Sally Bercow's booth at number five
:44:15. > :44:20.Cavendish Square. Alan, Michael, get ready to pucker up. #innocentface.
:44:21. > :44:54.Nighty night, don't let the Speaker's wife's bottom lip bite.
:44:55. > :45:01...Julia Davis, Tamsin Greig, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Helen McCrory,